Ethics and Animals

About this book

In this text, a full spectrum of views on how humans ought best to treat non-human animals is presented. The defences of animal rights set out here are based not only on classical ethical principles, but also on firmly grounded scientific notions of evolutionary continuity among species. And, uncommon in works on these themes, there is also a modern defence of the use of animals in research, testing and farming. The contributors - a cohort of animal behaviourists, scientists, philosophers, economists, psychologists, and animal welfare activists - bring equally as wide a diversity of approaches, methodologies, and conclusions to these always moving questions of the human uses of animals. Among the specific topics treated are: animal rights; killing of non-humans; animal suffering; speciesism; animal intelligence; animal experimentation; humans as hunting animals; the limits of moral community; animals as models of the human; moral status of animals; ethics of meat eating; animal liberation; and animals in human law, philosophy, and literature. The survey identifies the key issues in human-animal relationships, sorts out their meanings, and bridges ethical and utilitarian views. It demonstrates unequivocally that those who use animals have serious obligations of care and respect toward them, even while showing that - where human interests go beyond those of other creatures - at least some human interests ought to prevail. All those concerned with animal rights - traditionalists and advocates of animal liberation alike - should find this book a valuable source of insight and understanding into these often difficult problems.

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